[VERSE — Voice A MOLLY'S VERSE The Tender One] [Intro — The Gathering] [music box, slightly wrong pitch, like a memory played back on damaged tape] We've been meaning to say something... For a long time now... Randy... Can you hear us? [breath — multiple breaths, slightly offset, not quite synchronized] [Molly — 92 BPM | Fragile, Young, Sincere] [voice: soft, careful, like speaking to someone sleeping] Randy I know you can't answer You've been so quiet Since you took the watch [strings enter, gentle but slightly out of tune] You stood at the door Where the dark things knocked And you said "I'll get it" Like it was nothing Like fear was just Another guest You knew how to seat [music box continues, cracking] I was too small To hold what was coming So you held it for me In your hands In your chest In the part of you That stopped sleeping So I could [pause] Thank you (thank you... thank you...) For being the lock When I needed to be the room Thank you For holding the fear So I could hold the spoon The small things The soft things The things that break When you grip too hard You gripped the terror So my hands could stay Open [COUNTER VERSE — Voice B NIK'S VERSE The Hysterical One] [Transition — tempo destabilizing, 108 BPM but stuttering] [glitches entering, the music box breaking apart, something laughing or crying — hard to tell] [Nik — 108 BPM Unstable | Manic, Cracking, Too Much Energy] [voice: faster, higher, laughing-crying, the one who processes through chaos] Randy! RANDY! Ha! You absolute disaster! You beautiful stupid brave disaster! [drums enter, frantic, off-grid] You ate the nightmares Like they were BREAKFAST While I was busy Screaming into pillows Laughing at funerals Making everyone uncomfortable Because SOMEONE had to be the noise While you were being the silence! [tempo pushing, unstable] And I HATED you for it! (hated you!) I hated how quiet you got! How STILL! While I was all limbs and sparks And too-much-everything! [beat stutters] But the hate was just—tempo slows, detuning increases, harmonic smear, rising sub pressure <insert overlapping lyric fragments> (just—) The hate was just— (just—) FEAR! Wearing a funnier costume! [laughing that becomes crying that becomes laughing] THANK YOU! For not making me hold it! THANK YOU! For knowing I would DROP IT! THANK YOU! For being the anchor While I was the thrash! [glitching intensifies] How are you supposed to let the light in WITHOUT ANY HOLES IN YOUR BRAIN? (holes in your brain!) You let them drill you, Randy! You let the fear make the holes! And now— AND NOW— We can see the sun through your skull! And it's BEAUTIFUL! (beautiful!) It's so— It's so— [voice cracks, tempo wavers] I'm sorry I'm sorry I laughed When you were breaking I didn't know Breaking was how you were Letting us in [WEIGHTED RESPONSE — Voice C AMITA'S VERSE The Weighted One] [Transition — 126 BPM frantic, then suddenly heavy] [Amita — 126 BPM → Slowing | Low, ancient, the one who remembers everything] [voice: deeper, slower, each word costs something] [the music starts to drag, like gravity increasing] Randy. (i am) (am) I am the one who knows What you actually held. The others saw the door. I saw what was behind it. You held the thing That doesn't have a name Because naming it Would make it real And real would make it Ours to carry But you carried it Unnamed Unknown Alone in the hallway Between us and it For years (years...) For years (years...) [tempo dropping: 126 → 110 → 100] And I watched. I watched you get smaller. Watched the fear eat your edges. Watched you forget your own name So you could remember ours. [everything getting heavier] Thank you Feels too small (too small...) Thank you Feels like paying for a house With a single coin (single coin...) But it's all we have It's all we— [tempo: 100 → 88 → 76] [CONVERGENCE SECTION] [tempo slows, detuning increases, harmonic smear, rising sub pressure] [All Voices — Overlapping, Unstable, 76 BPM and Slowing] [voices beginning to bleed into each other, hard to tell who's speaking] [Molly, soft] Thank you for the door— [Nik, frantic] Thank you for the HOLES— [Amita, deep] Thank you for the silence between heartbeats— [overlapping] (thank you) (thank you) (thank you) [Molly] Randy can you hear us? [Nik] RANDY ARE YOU STILL IN THERE? [Amita] Randy... where did you go when you held it... [all three, slightly offset, creating a smear] WHERE DID YOU GO WHERE DID YOU GO WHERE DID YOU GO (where... where... where...) THE CRUSHING Delirium — The Weight Arrives [66 BPM and Slowing Further Everything Compounding] [all voices now, but distorted, the gratitude becoming too heavy to lift] [production: everything blending, notes bending downward, gravity] [voices merging into one] How are you supposed to let the light in (let the light in...) The light is coming in (coming in) Through your damage (your damage) And it's warm and its ours (ours) (ours) holding the fear so long That it forgot It was supposed to be ours
